The Next Step
by darknessKITTY
Summary: When the ministry enacts a marriage law, Romilda Vane is surprised to receive a proposal from Ron Weasley instead of from her True Love and Defense professor, Harry Potter. Will she try to win Harry's affection despite her impending wedding? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer- nothing belongs to me._

**Chapter 1**

The morning began just like any other, really. The light of the new day had not quite reached the seventh year dormitories when the first set of curtains parted and a pale face poked out from between the hangings.

The girl's eyes were rimmed slightly with dark circles, but they only served to accentuate her pale skin and dark hair. Long eyelashes fluttered as RomildaVane wiped the sleepiness from her eyes and stumbled over clothes strewn about the floor in an attempt to reach the bathroom.

When Romilda finished in the bathroom, she donned her uniform, opening a few more buttons than were strictly proper, and made her way down to breakfast. It was too early for most students to be up, except some overly studious Ravenclaws, books propped up beside their plates and ink dripping onto their toast, but they were not the reason she was here. That reason shone, stunning as always, from next to the oafish form of Hagrid.

The Defense professor's form seemed small in the high backed chairs of the table, but Romilda could still see the sleek muscles that pressed against the fabric of Harry Potter's shirt and it was all she could do to resist the urge to drool, or possibly race up to the head table and tear his shirt from his limbs. His scar stood out red on his pale forehead, not quite covered by the shock of messy black hair.

Ever since the defeat of You-know-who, Harry had become increasingly more appealing, his status rising from 'the boy-who-lived' to 'the hero of the wizarding world,' and he had most definitely been keeping in shape. Of course it didn't hurt that Romilda saw him nearly every day, brilliant green eyes staring passionately down on her from the table or searing straight through her in the defense classroom.

Romilda made her way to the Gryffindor table, absently placing food on her plate as she snuck glances up at the teacher's table. She took no notice of that day's newspaper, preferring to look at her True Love, and failed to see its life changing headline.

_A/N - PLEASE REVIEW and tell me if you want more. Thanks. Love, kitten._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The headline was simple and concise, assuming that the reader had previous knowledge of the subject, and it was for this reason (and definitely _not_ her increasingly distracted state) that Romilda did not pay heed to the whispered conversations taking place around her and the panicked glances of many of her classmates. In fact, she didn't notice anything until that afternoon when, after a particularly sleep-inducing History of Magic lesson, she actually woke up to the subject of the whispered conversations in the halls.

"I'm turning seventeen in just a few days," whispered a girl in front of her, yellow scarf wrapped around her brown hair.

It was a vague statement, and seemingly unimportant, but the desperation in the girl's voice grated harshly against Romilda's ears, and suddenly she heard what everyone was saying, coming at her all at once, and _understood_.

The rest of the day went by in a daze, different from her usual love induced distraction, the world moving about her in a whir.

She finally picked up a copy of the prophet that evening, back in the Gryffindor common room for the night. At the top, bold black letters stood out on the off-white page, stating, "Ministry Passes Marriage Law." Underneath was more text and various photographs: One of arguing politicians, various witches and wizards faces accompanying interviews, and, at the bottom of the page, a rendition of proper wizarding wedding. The text explained the premise on which the law had been passed (including a photo of an unfortunate child disfigured by inbreeding and various statistics revolving around the dramatic increase in squibs in pureblood families), but all of this was old news to nearly everyone.

She skimmed the text, stopping at the part that she felt was relevant and reading it twice, just to be sure she didn't miss anything. The facts were fairly simple: any unmarried muggleborns over the age of seventeen when the law was passed would be immediately entered into a list at the ministry of magic. If they came of age at any point in time after this, their name would be entered then. They would have a week to receive proposals from eligible partners, at the end of this period choosing one as their future husband. This name would promptly be submitted to the ministry. If no proposals were received, the ministry would pick someone who they felt was suitable. The couple would then have up to a month to plan and hold their wedding, at which point marriage certificates had to be on file at the ministry of magic.

Romilda groaned and sunk down into her chair. Her seventeenth birthday had occurred only two weeks ago.


End file.
